Genshin Impact isn’t available for Mac but here we show you how to install and play Genshin Impact on Macs for free including the latest Apple Silicon Macs.
Genshin Impact is a free open-world action RPG developed by miHoYo.
The game features a huge map, elaborate elemental combat system, engaging storyline & characters, co-op gaming mode, mellow soundtrack and much more.
However, Genshin Impact has not been released for macOS but there are still ways to play the game on a Mac and below we have listed the best ways to play it on a Mac.
- By using the GeForce Now Cloud gaming platform (works on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs) and also offers a limited free version to play Genshin Impact for free on a Mac.
- By using the Boosteroid Cloud gaming platform (works on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs) although there is no free trial version to test it first.
- By using Boot Camp to install Windows on a Mac which is free on Intel Macs (Intel Macs only though as Boot Camp does not work on Apple Silicon Macs).
Of all these methods, we recommend using GeForce Now because it’s free for limited gameplay and it works on both Intel and the latest Apple Silicon Macs.
This includes all types of Mac including MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, Mac Studio and iMacs.
Boosteroid is also a good option although the Boosteroid servers have been severely affected by demand for Hogwarts Legacy meaning many users have had problems playing Genshin Impact and other games using it.
GeForce Now and Boosteroid both allow you to download and play Genshin Impact without Boot Camp which makes things much easier.
Using Boot Camp to play Genshin Impact is more complicated to setup and it does not work on Apple Silicon Macs.
Note that you can’t play Genshin Impact on Macs by installing Windows in a virtual machine such as Parallels due to the anti-cheat technology in the game similar to Vanguard which virtual machines do not support.
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1. GeForce Now
GeForce Now is a gaming platform by NVIDIA which streams games to your Mac over the Cloud.
Genshin Impact was released on GeForce Now in August 2022 meaning you can now play Genshin Impact on any Mac easily.
GeForce Now allows you to play the full version of Genshin Impact on Mac that’s available on Windows – it’s not the mobile version although GeForce Now also supports mobile devices.
Even better, GeForce Now is free for one hour of gameplay, although if you want to play longer, you need to pay for a GeForce Now subscription.
Note that GeForce Now is available in most major regions including the USA, Europe, Japan, Russia and Australia but is not available worldwide.
If GeForce Now is not available in your country, you can also try using a VPN on your Mac which will allow you to unblock it in your region.
The timing of the release is perfect for Genshin Impact fans because the game has just added the biggest update of the year, “The Morn a Thousand Roses Brings.”
The Genshin Impact 3.0 update adds Sumeru which is the fourth of the game’s seven major nations and also adds Dendro which is the last of the game’s seven-element system.
To play Genshin Impact using GeForce Now just follow these instructions:
- Download GeForce Now for Mac and install it on your Mac.
- Install GeForce Now on your Mac. If you see a warning “NVIDIA GeForce Now” is an app downloaded from the Internet. Are you sure you want to open it?” click on Open.
- Drag and drop the GeForce Now app into your Applications folder.
- Launch the GeForce Now app and select Genshin Impact to add it to your library of games.
If you don’t want to install the Geforce Now app or have problems installing it on your Mac, you can also play Genshin Impact in the Chrome web browser using GeForce Now.
Note that other browsers such as Firefox and Safari are not supported by GeForce Now though.
Since everything is streamed over the Cloud, GeForce Now works on any Mac made after 2009 so it even allows you to play Genshin Impact on older Macs.
This also means you can play Genshin Impact on both Intel Mac and Apple Silicon M1/M2/M3 Macs.
GeForce Now is free for 1 hour of gameplay so you can test Genshin Impact for free first although you may have to wait up to an hour for a free slot first.
To skip the queue and for more than one hour’s gameplay you need to click on Upgrade or Join Now in the top right of the screen.
GeForce Now costs $9.99 per month for up to 6 hours per session and $19.99 for up to 8 hours gameplay per session.
The $19.99 RTX 3080 subscription also includes faster servers and support for 4K resolution with up to 120 Frames Per Second (FPS).
Note that for this subscription GeForce Now recommends running at least macOS 10.13.2 or later on a newer Mac such as the MacBook Pro 2016 and later, MacBook 2016 and later, MacBook Air 2018 and later, iMac 2017 and later, iMac 27″ Late 2015 or later, Mac Mini 2018 and later, Mac Pro 2019 and later, or iMac Pro.
You can find more information about GeForce Now subscriptions here.
You can find a full FAQ about playing Genshin Impact on GeForce Now here.
You can also read out full review of GeForce Now For Mac here.
2. Boosteroid
Boosteroid is a Cloud gaming service that also allows you to play Genshin Impact on a Mac.
Like GeForce Now, Boosteroid works on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.
Unlike GeForce Now though, there’s no free version of Boosteroid and no free trial but subscriptions start at around $10 a month.
Firstly, it’s important to be aware that Boosteroid’s servers have been severely affected by massive demand for Hogwarts Legacy which has made playing all games on it including Genshin Impact laggy and in some cases impossible.
Boosteroid is aware of this and has issued an apology while it upgrades its server capacity but it’s important to be aware of this before subscribing to it to play Genshin Impact.
Boosteroid also received a huge boost recently when Microsoft announced a partnership with it to eventually bring Xbox games as well as Activision Blizzard titles to it.
With this in mind, here’s how to play Genshin Impact with Boosteroid.
- Sign-up for a Boosteroid subscription. You can either pay annually or monthly but if you pay monthly you can cancel at any time although it works out slightly more expensive.
- Download and install the Boosteroid for Mac desktop app.
- When the Boosteroid app is open, in the top right of the screen search for “Genshin Impact”.
- On the Genshin Impact game page click on Play and when the Genshin Impact launcher opens click Launch.
- You will then be prompted to create a Genshin Impact account within Boosteroid. An activation email will be sent to your email address which you must click on to activate.
You can then play Genshin Impact in Boosteroid.
Note that the maximum resolution you can play games on Boosteroid is 1080p so the quality won’t be as good as playing Genshin Impact natively on a PC or console.
3. Boot Camp (Intel Macs Only)
Boot Camp is a free tool in macOS which allows you to install Windows for free on a separate partition of the your Mac hard drive.
However, it only works on Intel Macs – Boot Camp is not available in the latest Apple Silicon Macs.
Boot Camp enables you to boot your Intel Mac in either Windows or macOS whenever you want.
It also allows your Mac to dedicate all of its resources to running highly demanding games like Genshin Impact for smoother gameplay than other ways of running Windows on a Mac.
To play Genshin Impact on your Mac using Boot Camp, follow these instructions to install Windows for free on a Mac.
When you’ve installed Windows on your Mac, you then simply download the Windows Genshin Impact launcher to start the game.
Can You Use Bluestacks Android Emulator To Play Genshin Impact?
Before the release of Genshin Impact on GeForce Now, we recommended using the Bluestacks Android emulator to play Genshin Impact on a Mac.
However, Bluestacks only allows you to play the mobile Android version of Genshin Impact which isn’t very playable due to the poor resolution, graphics and touch screen controls in the mobile version.
For similar reasons, we do not recommend using apps such as PlayCover which allow you to “sideload” iOS apps into macOS.
Such apps also requires disabling important SIP security controls in macOS which we do not recommend for obvious reasons.
Bluestacks is free to use though and allows you to play any Android mobile game on macOS.
You simply download the Bluestacks emulator onto macOS and then download Genshin Impact from the Google Play store.